Welcome
Welcome to the Alabama Historic Ironworks Commission (AHIC) Archaeology blog. The Ironworks Commission manages two Historical State Parks which are the sites of 19th century Tannehill and Brierfield charcoal blasts furnaces. In addition to these old ironworks, the parks’ combined 1400 acres contain the archaeological remains of slave and free worker housing, pioneer homesteads, tenant farmer shacks, water-powered mills and other sites representing virtually every chapter of the social and cultural history of the hill country people of Alabama during it’s first century of statehood.
For the most part, the story of these ordinary folk can’t be found in books. But their story survives. It is buried in the archaeological remains they left behind, awaiting rediscovery. The mission of AHIC archaeolgy is to identify, preserve and interpret those archaeological sites. To tell that story so that their lives and times won’t be forgotten. Our blog is an effort to speed that mission.
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